BEST DRESSED CHICKEN IN TOWN - Dr. Alimantado
(CD: K Records KMCD001)

• BEST DRESSED CHICKEN IN TOWN
• I AM THE GREATEST SAYS MUHAMMED ALI
• CAN'T CONQUER NATTY DREADLOCKS
• RIDE ON

The good Doctor is one of reggae's greatest DJs, and this crucial album has four tracks either produced or engineered by Lee Perry.

CLASSIC SELECTION VOL.1 - Dub Syndicate
(CD: On U Sound ONUCD5)

• NIGHT TRAIN
• THE SHOW IS COMING

CLASSIC SELECTION VOL.3 - Dub Syndicate
(CD: On U Sound ONUCD69)

• LET THE SPIRIT RISE

ECHOMANIA - Dub Syndicate
(CD: On U Sound ONUCD24)

• DUBBING PYSCHO THRILLER - Lee Perry & Dub Syndicate
• DUBADDISABABA - Lee Perry & Dub Syndicate

If you're a Lee Perry fan, then don't hesitate to seek out some outer space midnight music from the Dub Syndicate. A combo of heavy duty musicians, they've released many albums on Adrian Sherwood's excellent On U Sound label and have done lots of work with Perry. Echomania features a couple of songs that Perry does crazed vocals on, while Classic Selection Vol. 1 has two instrumentals that were used as rhythm tracks on Perry tunes: "Night Train" is "Music & Science Lovers" on Time Boom X De Devil Dead, and "The Show Is Coming" was rocked up to become the awesome "Train To Doomsville". "Let The Spirit Rise" on Classic Selection Vol. 3 is a seven minute dub version of "Secret Laboratory (Scientific Dancehall)" from From The Secret Laboratory.

GROOVE YARD - Various Artists
(CD: Mango CID1281)

• WAR INA BABYLON - Max Romeo
• POLICE & THIEVES - Junior Murvin
• ROAST FISH & CORNBREAD - Lee Perry

Three killer Lee Perry productions on a terrific reggae collection.

JESUS DREAD - Yabby You
(CD: Blood & Fire BAFCD021)

• RUN COME RALLY - Vivian Jackson & The Prophets
• RALLY DUB - Lee Perry
• JAH VENGEANCE - Vivian Jackson & The Sons Of Jah
• DEATH TRAP - Tommy McCook
• JUDGEMENT ON THE LAND - Vivian Jackson & The Prophets

Vivian Jackson, better known as Yabby You, the "Jesus Dread", was responsible for some of the heaviest and most wonderful roots music of the 1970s. As one dread remarked, Yabby You's chilling harmonies "makes all the others sound like the Osmonds". Jesus Dread is a magnificent collection of Yabby's best work as producer and performer, and includes a few tracks that Scratch was involved with. "Run Come Rally" and "Rally Dub" were mixed at the Black Ark by Lee Perry, while Tommy McCook's incredible "Death Trap" and Yabby's "Jah Vengeance" and "Judgement On The Land" feature rhythms laid down at the Black Ark. One can only wonder what Yabby would have sounded like with Scratch as producer...

THE MARLEY FAMILY ALBUM - Various Artists
(CD: Heartbeat CDHB160)

• MANY ARE CALLED - The I Threes

This is the standout track on an otherwise lukewarm collection of Bob Marley's friends and family doing their thing. Although he's only credited with "production assistance ", the outer space feel of this Judy Mowatt classic has Black Ark written all over it.

MEGAWATT DUB - King Tubby Meets Lee Perry
(CD: Shanachie 45037)

• RIGHT YO DUB
• RAINY NIGHT DUB
• OPEN THE GATE DUB
• RISE & SHINE DUB
• WAR DUB

Ex Congo Watty Burnett presents a series of 1970s dub tracks from King Tubby and Lee Perry, along with some newer tracks by Philip Smart, recorded at Burnett's NY studio. The killer Perry tracks are the dubs of the Burnett songs "Rainy Night In Portland" and the amazing "Open The Gate". On "Copy Cat Dub", Burnett performs a half assed medley of Scratch songs, including "Sipreano", "Shocks Of Mighty", and "Upsetting Station".

MONKEY BUSINESS - Various Artists
(CD: Trojan CDTRL188)

• TIGHTEN UP - The Untouchables
• RETURN OF DJANGO, DOLLAR IN THE TEETH - The Upsetters
• SHOCKS OF MIGHTY - Dave Barker

Four of Lee Perry's most successful - and grooviest - productions on an out of sight collection of first wave reggae. The rest of the album is dynamite, too.

MONKEY SKA - Various Artists
(CD: Trojan CDTRL323)

• WHAT A GOOD WOODMAN - Lee Perry

Someone really needs to put out another collection of Lee Perry's ska numbers, because the kid could swing. "What A Good Woodman" is a neat boogie where poor young Lee sings the blues about his wife's infedelity. (See Ska Authentic and Ska Bonanza below for more ska recommendations)

PAY IT ALL BACK (VOLUME 2) - Various Artists
(CD: On U Sound W248)

• TRAIN TO DOOMSVILLE - Lee Perry & The Dub Syndicate

One of Perry's finest moments - he really makes the walls shake with this one, a rocked up version of Dub Syndicate's "The Show Is Coming". The rest of the compilation is really good as well, but "Train To Doomsville " alone is worth the admission price.

THE REGGAE TRAIN 1968 - 1971 - Various Artists
(CD: Trojan CDTRL261)

• I AM THE UPSETTER, KIMBLE - Lee Perry
• PEOPLE GRUDGEFUL - Sir Gibbs

A collection of music from Joe Gibbs' Amalgamated label with some associated Perry tracks: "I Am The Upsetter" and "Kimble", which is the missing link between "I Am The Upsetter " and the wild "People Funny Boy". It's a crazy song complete with breaking glass and screaming, a tribute to David Janssen's character on the famous TV show The Fugitive. "People Grudgeful" is Joe Gibbs' answer to Perry's "People Funny Boy ", which uses almost the same arrangement and is a surprisingly great comeback to Perry's rant ("You spit in the sky, it fall in your eye / That's no lie...").

RUDIES ALL AROUND: RUDE BOY RECORDS 1966/1967 - Various Artists
(CD: Trojan CDTRL 322)

• SET THEM FREE - Lee Perry & The Sensations

Rudies All Around is a great collection of ska and rocksteady numbers that chronicle the violence which was simmering in urban Kingston during the 1960s. Perhaps most striking of all is Lee Perry's "Set Them Free", where the future Upsetter is unusually eloquent in defending a trio of rude boys: "They can't get no job, so they're forced to rob. I'm not saying that they should, but as you know, a hungry man is an angry man..." A true gem from Perry's early days.

THE SINGLES - The Clash
(CD: Columbia 4689462)

• COMPLETE CONTROL

When Perry heard The Clash's rugged cover version of Junior Murvin's "Police & Thieves " (a song that Perry co-wrote), he told bassist Paul Simenon that they had ruined it. Despite the negative review, Simenon asked Perry to produce the band's next record, which turned out to be one of their heaviest numbers, "Complete Control ". Despite its punk rock status, the 1984-ish "Complete Control " fits perfectly into the Lee Perry canon, since many of his songs have been rants about the greedy and the ungrateful.

SKA AUTHENTIC - The Skatalites (Various Artists)
(LP: Studio One SOL9006)

• MOTHER IN LAW - Lee Perry (not listed on outer sleeve, but it's there!)

SKA BONANZA - Various Artists
(CD: Heartbeat CDHB86/87)

• SUGAR BAG - Lee Perry

Even though Heartbeat's Chicken Scratch (see the Lee Perry albums section) is a fine collection of Lee Perry ska tunes, there are many other early scorchers from the neat little man floating around, and they're all a blast. "Mother In Law" is a first rate shouter where Perry tries to convince his wife's mother to get lost, while the naughty "Sugar Bag" is a song about wanting to get into a girl's pants. Besides the Lee Perry tune, the amazing Ska Bonanza (also available as two single CDs, Go Ska Go and Streets Of Ska) contains killers from The Skatalites, The Maytals, Don Drummond, Jackie Opel, and many others. An absolute must for any ska fan.

SOLID GOLD FROM THE VAULTS (VOL. 1) - Various Artists
(CD: Trojan CDTRL291)

• SHOCKS 71 - Dave Barker
• EASE UP, EVERYTHING FOR YOUR FUN - The Bleechers

There are four volumes in this series, and all are out of sight ska and first wave reggae collections. Two killers from Dave Barker appear here: "Shocks 71" features Dave and Charlie Ace rapping over The Wailers' "Small Axe" rhythm, and "Hot Sauce" (produced by Bunny Lee) has Dave shouting that he's "The boss! Of the hot sauce!". The two songs from The Bleechers are early Perry productions. Another notable song is a wild, early track from the Hippy Boys (who later became the Upsetters), "Cloudburst".

SOLID GOLD FROM THE VAULTS (VOL. 3) - Various Artists
(CD: Trojan CDTRL295)

• GODFATHER SKANK - Winston Wright
• YOU'RE GONNA FEEL IT - The Bleechers
• ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE - Dave Barker
• TACKRO - The Upsetters

Here we have another Dave Barker slam, "Only The Strong Survive", one of The Bleechers' best, "You're Gonna Feel It", as well as two killers from The Upsetters, the berserk "Tackro" (mispelled as "Takio") and Winston Wright's "Godfather Skank", which found its way onto Glen Adams' 1995 Heartbeat compilation Upsetters A Go Go as the title track.

SOLID GOLD FROM THE VAULTS (VOL. 4) - Various Artists
(CD: Trojan CDTRL302)

• DREAMLAND VERSION - U Roy & Lee Perry
• TOP SECRET - Winston Wright

"Dreamland Version" is pure U Roy cool, with machine gun rhyming delivered over a nice rhythm. "Top Secret" is credited to Winston Wright, one of the Upsetters' keyboard aces, and is - as the title suggests - a spy movie type organ skank.

TIBETAN FREEDOM CONCERT - Various Artists
(CD: Grand Royal/Capitol CDP 7243 8 59110 26)

• HEADS OF GOVERNMENT - Lee Perry & The Robotiks featuring Mad Professor

An amazing live set featuring U2, Beastie Boys, Rancid, Foo Fighters, Ben Harper, KRS-1, and many others. This is Lee Perry at his fiercest - "To the heads of government, fire is coming!" All proceeds from this CD go towards the Beastie Boys' non profit Milarepa Fund.

TIGHTEN UP (VOL. 1 & 2) - Various Artists
(CD: Trojan CDTRL306)

• TIGHTEN UP - The Untouchables
• SPANISH HARLEM - Val Bennett
• PLACE IN THE SUN - David Isaacs
• RETURN OF DJANGO, LIVE INJECTION - The Upsetters
• COME INTO MY PARLOUR - The Bleechers

Along with Monkey Business (see above), this is a great collection of first wave reggae, and contains six Scratch produced killers. Strangely, this version of "Live Injection" is noticeably slower than usual; perhaps it needs a "Medical Operation".

TOWERING DUB INFERNO - Various Artists
(CD: ROIR RCD20152)

• SATAN'S DUB - Lee Perry

Despite the sinister title, "Satan's Dub " isn't that deadly, but it's still a killer, taken from Lee Perry's album of the same title with Bullwackie. The album also features deadly dubs from Mad Professor, Niney The Observer, Black Uhuru, and Dub Syndicate.